Gazette Midday: Normandeau takes the stand; Vendome upgrade not in time for MUHC

Hello and welcome to montrealgazette.com and welcome to Midday. Here’s the rundown on some of the stories we’re following for you today.

Former Quebec cabinet minister Nathalie Normandeau, who is on the stand at the Charbonneau Commission, is probably best remembered for accepting 40 long-stemmed roses and Céline Dion tickets from now-disgraced construction boss Lino Zambito in 2008. But in her native Gaspé region, Normandeau’s name still evokes pride in the small-town girl who rose from modest origins to become one of Quebec’s most powerful politicians. Once touted as a possible successor to former premier Jean Charest, she has lived under a cloud since her sudden resignation as deputy premier and minister of natural resources in September 2011. Appearing before the Charbonneau Commission, Normandeau, 46, is answering questions about alleged illegal campaign fundraising by engineering and construction companies to which she awarded lucrative contracts as municipal affairs minister from 2005 to 2009. The allegations go to the heart of the corruption scandal swirling around the former Charest government and the testimony that emerges in the coming days could have far-reaching consequences, not least for Normandeau herself.

Upgrades to the Vendôme métro/train station that were supposed to be ready when the MUHC superhospital opens next year will not be completed in time, The Gazette has learned. Vendôme, already crowded at rush hour, is expected to see a flood of new users — staff, patients, visitors — when the hospital moves in next door. In a news release announcing it would provide $5.16 million to pay for the Vendôme work, the Quebec government on Sunday said the improvements will be in place when the hospital opens “in the fall of 2015.” In fact, the McGill University Health Centre will start moving into its new Notre-Dame-de-Grâce home in February 2015, with the first patients arriving two months later. The entire operation is to be completed by June 14, 2015, when 7,500 employees will be at the $1.3-billion hospital, an MUHC spokesperson said. At that point, Vendôme will still be a construction zone. The improvements — for which a contractor has not been found — will not be completed until at least July 2015.

After more than a decade of delays and a ballooning costs, Montreal auditor general Jacques Bergeron says he has found “significant and worrisome weaknesses” in a software package and database that has been developed for the Montreal police department that will process everything related to police work. However, the auditor’s findings and recommendations, referred to in his latest annual report released on Monday, are only available to the police and the city’s computer-technology division, which has overseen the project with the police force. Bergeron’s audit of the new system, called M-IRIS, is confidential “due to the sensitive nature of the information it contains,” his report reads. The police and the computer-technology division have indicated they agree with his conclusions and recommendations, it adds. M-IRIS, which stands for Montréal — Inscription et recherche de l’information sur la sécurité, is the software component of the police department’s long drawn-out project to upgrade and integrate its disparate computer systems into a single system. The new system will process everything from incident reports produced by officers on laptops in their patrol cars to court summons to investigation reports.

Quebec’s health ministry will announce a series of measures this week to help the Jewish General Hospital get its financial house in order, including appointing a special monitor to find out why the hospital keeps running a deficit. The government is unhappy with the hospital’s $14.3-million accumulated deficit and is stepping in after turning down parts of two financial redressment plans submitted by the hospital, said Joanne Beauvais, press attaché to Health Minister Gaétan Barrette. “We will address solutions in the next few days,” Beauvais told The Gazette on Tuesday. But news of the appointment of a special monitor wasn’t a surprise to officials at the Jewish General. Laurent Ziri, the hospital’s director of finance, said he has already been working with the health ministry and the Montreal Health and Social Services Agency for several months to find a solution to the deficit issue. He said an independent audit requested by the Montreal health agency concluded that the hospital was underfinanced and that “our problems were volume related and not performance related.”

A case of racial profiling could go to the Human Rights Tribunal after the city of Montreal and the SPVM did not compensate Farid Charles with $33,000 in damages issued by the Quebec Human Rights Commission. The commission ordered the city to compensate Farid Charles for racial profiling four years after two Montreal police officers removed him from a car and arrested him for loitering. “I have received nothing,” said Charles, 30, who is black. “No apology, either.” In April 2010, the former high school teacher was waiting in the passenger seat of his friend’s car in a LaSalle parking lot while his friend picked up takeout food when officer Christopher Brault approached the car and asked to see his licence and registration. Brault pulled Charles out of the car when he refused to comply and slammed him into the pavement with the help of officer Mathieu Boucher-Bacon. Charles was detained for over 40 minutes in the back of the squad car and slapped with a $144 fine for loitering before being released.

And finally, the U.S. Patent Office ruled Wednesday that the Washington Redskins nickname is “disparaging of Native Americans” and that the team’s federal trademarks for the name must be cancelled. The 2-1 ruling comes after a campaign to change the name has gained momentum over the past year. The team doesn’t immediately lose trademark protection and is allowed to retain it during an appeal. Redskins owner Daniel Snyder has refused to change the team’s name, citing tradition, but there has been growing pressure including statements in recent months from President Barack Obama, lawmakers of both parties and civil rights groups. The decision means that the team can continue to use the Redskins name, but it would lose a significant portion of its ability to protect the financial interests connected to its use. If others printed the name on sweatshirts, apparel, or other team material, it becomes more difficult to go after groups who use it without permission.

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